Thread: Archive Latest News - Think Tank - 16/08/07 - 03/11/07

Aide to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr killed in Najaf

Baghdad - A prominent leader close to feared Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was killed by unknown fire on Saturday, according to local authorities.

Police forces in the Shiite-dominated city of Najaf, 200 kilometres south of Baghdad, said that Sheikh Mohammed al-Karawi's office was attacked by armed men who gunned the Sadrist down.

The local Sadr office handled tribal affairs in the region, according to the police source.

In the nearby southern Kufa, also with a Shiite population, the town's health department head Khalil al-Yassery said an explosion killed at least four people and wounded five on Saturday.

According to the official, an explosive charge, placed in a plastic bag and detonated near a commercial store, caused the deadly blast.

Meanwhile, in the north, Iraqi army troops swooped on four militant leaders overnight and in morning operations across a number of Diyala province's villages, according to Iraqi military sources.

As US forces provided air cover, the troops raided the militants' hide-outs and reportedly disabled a car bomb.

An Iraqi security source also said that 35 wanted militants were arrested in the area of Asiud, 17 kilometres north-east of Baquba, capital of Diyala province.

Aide to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr killed in Najaf - Middle East

BACKGROUND: Key elements of Bush's revised strategy for Iraq

Washington - US General David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, is to report to Congress on Monday about the progress made since President George W Bush announced his revised strategy in January.

The highly anticipated report will be the focus of debate on the US mission in Iraq and whether his troop surge has worked amid growing calls for Bush to begin withdrawing the American presence.
Here are some key elements of the Bush strategy:

- A surge of more than 20,000 troops, expanding the US presence to more than 160,000 troops. Almost all of the additional forces were deployed to Baghdad to crackdown on militias responsible for the sectarian killings that peaked last year.

- Streamline the command of the Iraqi security forces in Baghdad to make it more independent of politics.

- Place more pressure on the Iraqi government to create an oil revenue sharing law for Iraq's ethnic and religious groups and take adequate steps toward reconciliation.

- Offer more support for moderate forces in the country to strengthen their hand in fending off extremism.

- Place more emphasis on the need to strengthen economic development in secure areas to promote employment and growth.

- Double the number of Provincial Reconstruction Teams outside of Baghdad. PRTs, as they are known, are run by the US State Department to help rebuild key infrastructure, schools and other local needs.

- More active diplomacy in the region to persuade Arab states to do more to support the Iraqi government.

BACKGROUND: Key elements of Bush's revised strategy for Iraq - Middle East

Bush says thanks for help in Iraq

US President George W. Bush has thanked all the APEC nations who have troops serving alongside Americans in other countries, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"By providing security we're creating conditions that will allow people to reconcile," Mr Bush said in a speech to an APEC business summit in Sydney today.

"It's hard for people to come together after years of tyranny," he said, referring to the continuing war in Iraq, "particularly after the brutal dictator did all he could to divide society in order to stay in power".

"For those of us who live in the comfort of free society it is hard for us to image what it is like to psychologically recover from life under a thug like Saddam Hussein."

He echoed previous comments by Prime Minister John Howard, saying the Iraqi people needed "time not a timetable".

"We're going to succeed in Iraq," he said.

"If given a chance, liberty will succeed every time, and liberty will help heal the peace we need.

"This is the calling of our time."

Mr Bush said a look at east Asia, an area once dogged by turmoil and danger, showed what could be achieved in Iraq.

"With resolve and strength of conviction, the same thing will happen in the Middle East," Mr Bush said.

"And they'll look back at this period, Mr Prime Minister, and say 'job well done'."

Mr Bush said it was an honour to be on the soil of an ally like Australia.

The Australian, News from Australia's National Newspaper

Parliament extends work of Constitutional Amendments Committee

Baghdad, Sept 8, (VOI)- Iraqi parliament on Saturday extended the work of the Constitutional Amendments Committee up to the end of the House's second legislative term by January next year, for the committee so far had failed to reach solutions on four controversial issues.

Head of the Constitutional Amendments Committee Humam Hamoudi demanded during Saturday's parliament session to extend the mandate given to his committee until the end of the House's current legislative term for what he said "the committee failure to reach solutions over four points disputed among the major parliamentary blocs."

"We have not reached an agreeable solutions to four controversial issues: the preamble to the constitution, the Civil Status Law no. 41, the addition of new jurisdictions to the President of Iraq and Article 140 on Kirkuk city," Hammaudi told today's session.

The Shiite Unified Iraqi Coalition member added "the problems concerning these issues are political in the first place more than being of legal nature particularly as far as the President's jurisdictions, the powers of federal and region government and implementing Article 140 on Kirkuk are concerned."

It was scheduled for the Constitutional Amendments Committee to end its work on 15 May, 2007, but the differences over basic issues concerning expanding the powers of the President of Iraq and implementing article 140 on oil-rich-Kirkuk led to extend its mandate twice so far.

Article 140 is related to the normalization of the situation in Kirkuk, an important and mixed city of Kurds, Turkmen, Christians and Arabs. Kurds seek to include the city in the autonomous Iraq's Kurdistan region, while Sunni Arabs, Turkmen and Shiite Arabs oppose the incorporation. The article currently stipulates that all Arabs in Kirkuk be returned to their original locations in southern and central Iraqi areas, and formerly displaced residents returned to Kirkuk, 250 km northeast of Baghdad.

A referendum, provided for in the Iraqi constitution, is scheduled to be held by the end of the current year on a possible joining of Kirkuk to Kurdistan region.

Aswat Aliraq

President Talabani Allocates 200 Thousand Dollars for Developing Sulaimani Museum

Mr.Mala Bakhtiar, active member of PUK politburo, received the director and the administrative staff of Sulaimani museum today.

He emphasized on the importance of museums and ancient cites which are forming the main, national, and historical identity of our Kurdish people.

Concerning that he told them that it has been decided to allocate 200 thousand dollars on president Talabani’s budget for the broadening and developing the Sulaimani museum to be a modern and developed museum and so that it might further preserve the historical values of our nation.

A number of foreign and regional experts and figures visited the museum in the past years, described the museum as one of the big museums concerning the number of ancient antiques of the area in a way it reflects the history of Kurdish civilization.

PUKmedia :: English - President Talabani Allocates 200 Thousand Dollars for Developing Sulaimani Museum

Tehran ready to support al-Maliki government: official

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab-African Affairs, Mohammad-Reza Baqeri, here Saturday voiced Tehran's support for the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Baqeri is currently in Baghdad to participate in a meeting attended by Iraq and its neighbors to be held in the Iraqi capital on Sunday to assess the proposal forward for ending sectarian violence, securing energy for Iraq and dealing with a refugee flood.

He told IRNA that holding such a meeting in Baghdad is an indication of the authority of the government of al-Maliki.

Tehran believes that the Iraqi popular government is taking steps on the right track and therefore it is ready to do anything to support such a government, Baqeri said.

He added that participation in the Iraqi neighbors' meeting and expansion of Tehran-Baghdad relations are two major objectives behind his current visit to Iraq.

Delegates are expected from across the region, from the five veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- as well as from some of the Group of Eight countries like Japan.

After Maliki addresses the meeting, delegates will break into three working groups dealing with security, the plight of four million Iraqis displaced internally or who have fled to Jordan and Syria, and Iraq's energy crisis.

The committees established at the first Baghdad Conference, held on March 10, have each held one meeting -- energy in Turkey in mid-June, displaced Iraqis in Jordan early August, and security in Syria on August 8 and this will be the second time they meet on Iraqi soil.
Those attending are expected mostly to be envoys based in Iraq or foreign ministry officials.

Tehran ready to support al-Maliki government: official - Irna

Iraq seeks oil output of six million bpd within decade

War-torn Iraq seeks to raise oil production to three million barrels per day (bpd) next year and to six million bpd within a decade, Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein Shahristani said on Saturday.

The plan is to hike output "from just under 2.5 million bpd (now) to three million bpd by 2008 and 3.5 million bpd by the end of 2009," he told industry executives and experts at the start of an "Iraq Petroleum 2007" conference in the United Arab Emirates.

Iraq looks to then increase crude production "to four million bpd in the short term and six million bpd in the medium term," or about 10 years, Shahristani said.

Shahristani said that to reach its targets, Iraq needed to improve the oil infrastructure by building a new eastern pipeline and export pipelines through neighbouring countries, in addition to new oil terminals south of the existing Basra terminal.

Iraq's oil production has been hit by decades of under-investment in infrastructure, including during 13 years of UN sanctions, and rampant insecurity since the US-led invasion of 2003.

"Some 50 discovered fields await developers," Shahristani said.
Shahristani said a controversial oil bill that must be approved by the Iraqi parliament need not wait for possible amendments to the constitution adopted in October 2005.

"Constitutions can always be amended... We don't feel that any law... should be delayed waiting for constitutional amendments," he said.

Shahristani said he did not believe that most members of Iraq's parliament accept the argument that the oil legislation must wait for changes in the constitution.

The Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki passed the oil bill in July.

The bill, seen by Washington as one of the key factors to help end sectarian bloodshed in Iraq, lays down control of the country's vast oil wealth and how it would be distributed across the communities in the 18 provinces.

Iraq's oil reserves are largely in the Kurdish north and the Shiite south. Sunni Arabs from the central and western regions fear they could be robbed of the revenues from the crude exports.

But the Kurds also are concerned at the contents of the bill as a number of foreign companies have already entered into contracts with the northern Kurdish government to explore for oil in that region.

Kurds fear these contracts could be terminated after Shahristani said in May that any contract signed before the adoption of the law would be cancelled.


Iraq seeks oil output of six million bpd within decade - Yahoo! News UK

OPEC to consider 'slight' output hike: Iraq

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries will examine whether it needs to "slightly" hike output when it meets in Vienna next week, Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein Shahristani said on Saturday.

The oil cartel, which convenes on Tuesday, "will be discussing if there is a need to increase its production slightly to meet the increased demand," Shahristani told reporters in the United Arab Emirates.

Shahristani, speaking on the sidelines of an "Iraq Petroleum 2007" conference, said that while oil supplies are currently sufficient, "there is a capacity in OPEC to increase its supply to the market as is needed."

De****e recent price spikes, most analysts do not expect OPEC to raise its production quotas during the meeting in Vienna.

"The price will always be determined by the supply and demand formula. Currently it is on the upper side," Shahristani said, adding that he would head to Austria after the three-day conference in Dubai.

OPEC to consider 'slight' output hike: Iraq - Yahoo! News UK

General Petraeus offers mixed Iraq assessment ahead of key hearings

The top US commander in Iraq, Army General David Petraeus, offered a mixed assessment of security in Iraq in a letter to troops just days head of key hearings on Capitol Hill.

The letter, released Friday, said that US-led coalition forces had "seized the initiative from our enemies in a number of areas," even though there had been "uneven" progress.

Petraeus and US Ambassador Ryan Crocker will testify before committees in the US House of Representatives and Senate on Monday and Tuesday on the effectiveness of an eight-month-old, 30,000-man "surge" of US troops in Iraq.

The presentations are part of President George W. Bush's effort to help convince Congress to continue funding the war.

"My sense is that we have achieved tactical momentum and wrested the initiative from our enemies in a number of areas of Iraq," Petraeus said in the letter, dated September 7.

"The result has been progress in the security arena, although it has, as you know, been uneven."

Progress "has not, to be sure, been uniform across Baghdad or across Iraq," he said, mentioning recent huge bombings in Baghdad.

"However, the overall trajectory has been encouraging, especially when compared to the situation at the height of the sectarian violence in late 2006 and early 2007."

Petraeus was less positive about advances made on the Iraqi political scene.

"One of the justifications for the surge, after all, was that it would help create the space for Iraqi leaders to tackle the tough questions and agree on key pieces of 'national reconciliation' legislation.

"It has not worked out as we had hoped," he said.

In his letter Petraeus did not discuss pulling out any troops from Iraq, but in comments to the Boston Globe published Friday, he said he will recommend a gradual reduction of US forces beginning next spring in his testimony to Congress next week.

"Based on the progress our forces are achieving, I expect to be able to recommend that some of our forces will be redeployed without replacement," Petraeus told the Globe in an email from Baghdad.

The possible force reduction will come as the five brigades deployed to Iraq as part of the "surge" strategy end their tours of duty and are not replaced, the daily said. A brigade consists of 3,500 to 4,500 soldiers.

The US military said on Friday that insurgents killed seven American troops in separate attacks in Iraq.

The latest deaths brought the military's losses in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion to 3,749, according to an AFP count based on Pentagon figures.

Petraeus and Crocker are likely to face tough critics in Congress: The number two Democratic leader in the senate, Dick Durbin, said Friday that he will oppose more supplemental war funding bills unless the White House also includes a withdrawal strategy.

"I used to think this war was our worst foreign policy mistake in a generation," Durbin said in a speech Friday. "Now I think it is our worst foreign policy mistake ever. This Congress can't give President Bush another blank check for his war in Iraq."

Durbin warned that "the Bush-Petraeus report will try to persuade us that violence in Iraq is decreasing and thus the surge is working. (But) even if the figures were right, the conclusion is wrong."

General Petraeus offers mixed Iraq assessment ahead of key hearings - Yahoo! News UK

Iraq asks Kurd rebels to stop fighting Turkey, Iran

Iraq wants Kurdish rebels based in its northern region of Kurdistan to stop using the area to launch attacks against neighbouring Turkey and Iran, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said.

Talabani, on a visit to the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniya on Friday, said his comments did not mean Baghdad was threatening the rebels, who are holed up along northern and northeastern border areas.

"We ask them to ... put an end to armed struggle or at least stop their operations for one or two years against these countries to avoid foreign interference in the Kurdistan territory," Talabani said in a recording of his news conference seen on Saturday.

Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas took up arms against Turkey in 1984 with the aim of creating an ethnic Kurdish homeland in the country, home to up to 15 million Kurds.

Several thousand PKK fighters are believed to be based in mountains inside Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region near the Turkish border.

Other guerrillas of the PJAK, who seek autonomy for Kurdish areas in Iran, shelter in the northeastern border area. PJAK, the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan, is an Iranian offshoot of the PKK.

"If they do not accept this (to suspend operations), then let them go back to their countries and do such a thing there," said Talabani, a Kurd.
"So far this is a request. We have not decided to do anything against them."

Iraq's government in recent months has protested against shelling by Turkey and Iran of the border regions. Cross-border skirmishes also occasionally occur between the rebels and soldiers from Turkey and Iran.

Iraq asks Kurd rebels to stop fighting Turkey, Iran - Yahoo! News UK